to a victory don so to speak with the president donald trump handing him the occupied golan heights recognizing israeli sovereignty and then while he was signing that you had an escalation here in gaza just behind us so of course this is two weeks away from election he's already being called week why because there is quiet a lot of people of all of his opposition want him to play a hearty a harder hand a heavier hand on how mussing that he's lost the power of deterrence so this is something that he's trying to balance he's always said that he's done these decisions in the pots one has agreed to cease fires for the greater good of the israeli people he is known as mr security but this is a time when his main contenders if you speak biggest threat to his position in a decade or three x. chiefs of staff military men so again he's trying to play a very savvy game he is a savvy politician but it is certainly putting pressure on him and he is being criticized and that's wait and see how things develop over the next couple of days all right stephanie decker live for us on this roll call supporter thank you.

british and pays are preparing to vote on a range of alternative barks at options on wednesday after parliament voted to take control of the process of the u.k. leaving the e.u. or challenge reports. persons ministers are in a hurry these days often with little time for questions threats if you know what. we've compromised then peace they had to emergency downing street meetings cabinet meetings parliamentary sessions but whether taking the country still isn't clear despite the haste britain's government is paralyzed big ben's newly restored clockface was revealed this week a reminder as if m.p.'s needed one that time is ticking on wednesday they'll hold so-called indicative votes and attempt to choose an alternative to to reason may's withdrawal agreement the divorce deal with the e.u. that parliament has rejected twice but will she listen to them it's the promise

always been clear that it's negotiation between ourselves and you know when and if parliament expressed a view it may be entirely on deliverable thank you so what's our parliaments brecht's it options that the prime minister may or may not agree to m.p.'s have voted against no deal already but it's still the default if they can't agree on anything else by a pull the twelfth nearly six million people have signed a petition urging them to revoke article fifty staying in the customs union wouldn't please iraq skeptics they want complete trade independence the softest of albrecht's it's would keep the u.k. in the customs union and the common market but it couldn't help make the rules any more a canada style deal really would cut ties but trade deals take years to negotiate and the irish border would still be a problem a second referendum could reappear if m.p.'s want to put whatever they choose to the people with staying in the e.u. as the alternative and then there's the deal that won't die most m.p.'s hate it in

the commons speaker doesn't want it back but the reason may could try again anyway some of the deals fiercest critics are softening the bricks a tear em pay jacob riis mugs suggests he might support it if the alternative is staying in the e.u. . becomes the choice eventual whether we're there yet is another matter but i've always thought that no deal is better than mrs may's deal with mrs may's deal is better than not leaving at all still as there are many politicians including those from northern ireland's democratic unionist party who remain opposed to the prime minister doesn't yet have the numbers on wednesday she will meet with conservative party backbenchers and there is speculation that this most dog of leaders will tell them when she resigned perhaps that's the price of getting her deal over the line helen's al-jazeera london. a three year investigation into the us gun lobby has uncovered efforts by a political party in australia to secure twenty million dollars from pro-gun

advocates and america and the one nation party visited washington d.c. and september of last year seeking from the national rifle association dinner charlie from our investigative unit as part two of the story. al-jazeera is investigative unit film decoded truthfully about pulling one since one nation visited the u.s. to attend a series of meetings with gun lobby representatives i was the one nation delegation was made up of the party's chief of staff james ashby and steve dixon the leader of the party in the astringent state of queensland. right through and a million dollars a week when i hate to say plush was safe for the senate there were hoping that if the donations from the gun lobby would help them secure the balance of power in a strenuous parliament in an upcoming federal election there we would we. really don't know the truth to see through you know. you know what the record.

really. if you want one to tell you would you would you would own a lot of house and after you would have to sell that. while seeking millions from the gun lobby one nation said it was prepared to soften stricter gun control legislation in australia that the n.r.a. has frequently criticized the bill without. it. you'll be there during a visit to the us dixon and ashby attended a series of meetings in which they were offered advice by gun lobby groups on how to prepare the is trillion public for an easing but strict gun laws you know somebody who maybe at least a year or so i worked at a newspaper was covering city hall were. pretty tough stories about people who were wrong. another cold invitation be whatever it might be that could help out

there you know and that's going to be the game will restore words and we've got the right is going to put out two of five of those are we. pulling hanson's one nation party has developed an official gun policy. that proposes a softening of the strict gun lewis the destroy you put in place following a messenger in the town of port arthur in nine hundred ninety six but in secretly recorded meetings steve dixon promised to work to reverse the laws if we don't come saying people are going to go. dark help them to get out of not having guns to talk about them to get him politically correct but i mean if it is if one portion or you know it will poison our whole life we stop it before charlie al-jazeera sydney and her thomas has more from sydney. the revelations are still dominating the news here in australia this is the front page of one paper scorched and loaded now that refers to the two one nation officials who were caught on camera trying to get

money out of the us gun lobby now saying that when they were filmed they were drunk they drank too much whiskey too much scotch but the filmmaker from al-jazeera who made this program says that's just not true at all he filmed hours of footage of them in business meetings as well as in bars and they were consistently saying that they wanted to get money out of the us gun lobby consistently saying that they thought they could change the political system here if they got hold of that money the other excuse that the one nation officials have is that this was entrapment by al jazeera a foreign owned in their eyes a muslim broadcaster and for a right wing political party that sort of smear perhaps is no surprise not too surprising that one nation wants to highlight pick atari informs associate out zero with the. muslim world because it runs on a you know islamophobia platform and that fits within its narrative it's important that the filmmaker behind this documentary denies completely that he was in any way

compromised editorially because of al-jazeera as financial backer there was no influence whatsoever from qatar no imports no suggestion no censorship nothing whatsoever this was entirely conducted by me and my team in washington and in australia politically all this matters here because while one nation is an extreme party on the far right of politics they do have about five in some places nearly ten percent support and the prime minister who runs a center right party doesn't want to completely alienated their supporters so he's got to tread a very fine line while on the one hand saying that there are extremists who do stupid things like this in this documentary he doesn't want to say but those who support them are in the same boat they can watch the whole program from now to serious investigative unit how to sell a massacre be on al-jazeera thursday the twenty eighth of march at six g.m.t. . a county in the u.s. state of new york has declared a state of emergency over an outbreak of measles eradicated that is in two thousand

but has recently experienced several outbreaks local officials are banning unvaccinated children from public spaces with six thousand children pulled out of school while asian risks a five hundred dollar fine and at the six months in jail the outbreak has been largely concentrated in an ultra orthodox jewish community where vaccination rates are lower. the u.s. is struggling with an opioid addiction at the tenach that killed more than two hundred thousand people and two decades and i'll company blame for feeling that crisis is a great to pay two hundred seventy million dollars for pharma and its owners the billionaire sackler family were accused of using deceptive practices to push their drugs alice or as alan fischer reports it is a new day in oklahoma. and for the nation in our battle against the addiction. it's estimated one hundred thirty americans die every day from an opioid over to the president has declared it

a public health emergency nobody has seen anything like what's going on now as americans we cannot allow this to continue several states including oklahoma city big pharmaceutical companies have pushed opioids to boost profits the insist they don't play the risk of addiction while claiming their drugs would treat a wide range of conditions and while thousands die each year many more are struggling through addiction which has led to serious social problems including a spread of hiv and hepatitis c. dealing with the consequences cost states millions of dollars a year this is the first settlement in more than sixteen hundred claims perdue faces from states and cities and individual american counties the company says it might be forced to consider bankruptcy other major companies have so far refused to settle the first trial involving other companies is shared in oklahoma in me in the

coming weeks. this team and i will continue preparing for trial where we intend to hold the other defendants in this case accountable. for their role in creating the worst a public health crisis our state and nation has ever seen the settlement in oklahoma provides millions for addiction rehabilitation and treatment the pharma companies will come under renewed pressure to reach a nation white settlement with state and local governments possibly along similar lines alan fischer al-jazeera. shall carry here with the headlines on al-jazeera thailand's main opposition party has formed a coalition with six other parties following sunday's inconclusive election the leader of the. thai party rather says the coalition will have two hundred fifty five out of five hundred seats in the house of representatives though that's still

not enough for them to choose their own prime minister scott heiler has more from bangkok they are going to start they have are forming this coalition kind of phrased as the democratic front to counter what's been going on and to counter. who is the head of the military government now and prime minister candidate for the main party for supporting the military they say that they have enough seats in the lower house to now form a coalition the have a majority in the lower house they say there are at least six parties involved in this coalition and they say they have at least two hundred fifty five seats that would be a majority a simple majority in the lower house so they feel as though they can come together and start to do this seven people including four children have been killed in an air strike on a hospital and yemen the military coalition led by saudi arabia and the u.a.e. is being blamed the head of the algerian army has called for a constitutional process to be triggered which would declare president abdullah aziz beautifully unfit for office that move follows weeks of mass protests in the

country for twenty years israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu is promising further action against hamas as both sides can change into each act it tack each other sporadically israel has increased its military presence along the gaza border rockets were fired from the gaza strip on monday and israel responded with airstrikes a county on the u.s. state of new york has declared a state of emergency over an outbreak of measles eradicated that is season two thousand that has recently experienced several outbreaks. local officials are banning children from public spaces with six thousand children pulled out of school as the headline keep it on al-jazeera much more story next. africa's most populous nation the bloodiest economy has a youth unemployment problem in a bid to control the internet of the future some say a kind of digital. folding we bring you the stories the economic world we live in.

counting the cost on. the golan heights is your territory donald trump says the u.s. recognizes israel's sovereignty over the occupied syrian land it's benjamin netanyahu election campaign but condemned by world leaders is trump helping or hindering peace in the middle east this is inside story. and i welcome to the program i'm nick clegg so u.s. president donald trump has done it again in his latest controversial move he has recognized israeli sovereignty over the occupied golan heights ending decades of u.s. policy towards the region embattled israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu was

present when trump signed the order israel captured the territory in one thousand nine hundred eighty seven and i mixed it in one thousand nine hundred one in a move not recognised internationally syria says trump's decision is a blatant attack on its sovereignty the united nations says the status of the golan heights remains unchanged well seems unmoved by the criticism today i'm taking historic action to promote israel's ability to defend itself. and really to have a very powerful very strong national security which they're entitle to have in a moment i will sign a presidential proclamation recognizing israel's sovereign right over the golan heights the state of israel took control of the golan heights in one thousand sixty seven to safeguard security from external threats well as you can imagine the proclamation was welcomed by the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu who's

fighting an election in less than two weeks your decision to recognize israel sovereignty on the golan heights is so historic your recognition is a two fold act of historic justice israel won the golan heights in a just war of self defense and the jewish people's roots in the golan go back thousands of years so why is the occupied golan heights of such for teaching importance to israel well the mountainous region provide to the country with an excellent vantage point for monitoring movements in syria and provides the natural buffer against any military aggression the area is also a major source of water rainwater from the goldmans catchment feeds into the jordan river providing a third of israel's needs the land is fertile and the volcanic soil is perfect for even yards orchards and grazing for livestock.

all right let's introduce panel in beirut's we have rami hoary who's a senior fellow at the some fathers institute for public policy at the american university of beirut in geneva we have a shadow on geneva director and middle east analyst at independent diplomats which is a nonprofit advisory group that advises governments and democratic groups across the world and in washington d.c. i'm glad to say we're joined by eugene contador of which he is a director of international law at the car led to policy forum in jerusalem also advised both the israeli and the american governments on the occupied golan heights so welcome to you all gentlemen rami khouri i'd like to start with you donald trump said it would happen it has what's your take. it's a dangerous move but in keeping with trump's policy the trump question or approach actually trump cushion or shade in the approach has been very much to do whatever

the right wing in israel wants the netanyahu government with the right the jerusalem to see move of the united states recognizing all jerusalem as the capital of israel and now the golan move cutting assistance to palestinians through a no other means this is very much part of a trump in policy which is rejected by virtually the whole world is one or two small states here and there that go along with it the danger is not only with the impact on the middle east which will be more rhetorical than actual in the short from probably but the danger is that it sets a new pattern by which the united states tells the world that whatever the united states wants will happen across the world or you will be sanctioned or you will be . your money will be withdrawn or something will happen to you and it says that whatever israel wants in the levant at least in the arab israeli arena will prevail over any international law or the rights of other people so there's a double threat and the trump move on the golan heights and there's often possibly

more to come if israel tries to annex the west bank the arabs are not in a position to do anything right now militarily and then the other way against this the danger is that the foundations of international law and basic ethics globally will will crumble simply because donald trump and cushion are and their supporters on the right wing evangelical and pros imus movements in the us want this to happen all right we'll get into all of that in the next twenty minutes or so but fs i'm shot on the thing is it does not actually change anything on the ground the status quo is completely maintained isn't it. on the surface of it i would say yes i mean tomorrow the children in the golan heights are going to wake of go to school nothing seems to have changed in fact for the israeli public as well things will probably feel even you know more comfortable than they were before they was and there is a sort of a consensus in israel that the golan belongs to them and so this will be business

as usual but in reality this is not really business as usual. you know the geneva conventions and the hague conventions on occupation the un charter and all of that were crafted not by radical extremist left the store or militants but by military personnel by diplomats seasoned diplomats who at the end of the first and second world war realize that it was better to actually have international law and have legal. frameworks to actually set of disputes between the countries especially in so far as occupation is concerned and by. discarding and not listening you know have ailing themselves of all of this experience what has happened is that you are effectively taking the possibility of those negotiations on these frameworks outside and so you only left with. with violent means to

resolve disputes between say syria in this case and its potential allies and israel are going to throw it out there to washington d.c. and eugenia to prove which eugene it contravenes international law or sets a bad precedent in opens the door for other nations to take territory what do you say to that. israeli sovereignty over the go on heights in the u.s. recognition of it is entirely consistent with international law and indeed this long delayed recognition actually is going to contribute to security and deter aggression international law bans the use of force in aggressive wars wars where one country is attacking another on the other hand it says that self-defense is an inherent right of countries so not all uses of force are illegal international law might say that if you conduct a war of aggression you cannot benefit from it by taking territory but when the underlying war is illegal when it's defensive when it's not condemned by the united

nations then it is not and it is not impossible to take territory in such a war and that's the difference between the go on in crimea when russia took crimea it was in a coup or a war of aggression and the united nations condemned it as such in one thousand nine hundred seven the united nations which is no friend of israel did not condemn israel's use of force because it was a clear defensive war israel defended itself from an effort by the syria and egypt to destroy it in one thousand nine hundred seven and there have been fifty two years of syrian attempts to destroy israel ever since so i don't think a rule that says if you take a small amount of territory when you are defending from an attack continue to be attacked by that same enemy for fifty two years then that might be recognized as part of your territory that's not going to set any kind of destabilising precedent indeed if you have the contrary rule that no matter how many times a country attacks you can never lose territory that is an invitation to aggression

that doesn't like to rummage around me and there is a route to run so is this move is entirely consistent with international law or would you say to that. well that's what netanyahu and the extreme right wing in israel's say this is political government to go look masquerading as legal niceties the fact is you cannot acquire territory you can use force to defend yourself absolutely and people do it all the time you cannot acquire territory by force that's what the united nations resolutions and all the other international standard say so this defensive argument that the israel should keep the golan as it were a pain that in the defense of war is rejected by the entire world i mean if this wasn't a rational argument it would have been accepted years and years ago it's not a rational argument it's a political ploy which the israeli right wing is using and it has the man in the white house who will go along with this based partly on his ignorance of the facts and based partly on his reliance on very pro israeli political groups and donors

and evangelical groups and the people of that sort so this is not a serious argument and the world really should just ignore it and get on with the business of generating a peace agreement that brings peace to both sides really let some retained their original territory and guaranteed security for everybody in the region that's the route to peace right using is certainly true isn't it to cherry very little international support for this quite to the contrary i challenge rami to far there's a difference between political support and legal precedent and i challenge rami to identify a single precedent in which it has been said that a country is not allowed to acquire territory through a defensive war as i demonstrate in my academic writing it's quite clear that even the un in one thousand nine hundred sixty seven said it was unclear whether there was any rule against the acquisition of territory in the defensive war only after israel acquired the territory that people start reconsidering whether that's

a good rule but in one thousand surprise them and it is quite clear there was no such there's no such rule there was no precedent and i would challenge anyone to identify a contrary precedent and. international law is not a popularity contest we don't do a survey to find out what the rules are we look for precedents and we look for binding rules there are no binding contrary precedents whatsoever all right gentlemen i think this is something we just going to have to at this point agree to disagree on because it we could go on all night about this and i suspect will be the first thing that we're going to disagree on or the panel is going to disagree on and if i can come to you you did allude to this as to where this where this could all end maybe the west bank is next. i mean i definitely think that they'll be repercussions i don't think we agree to disagree in like to point that out israel and that conflict in general is has a great emotional charge and israel is always looking for very strong judicial arguments to defend its position on the west bank it's used the. very minute detail

of the absence of a sovereign and so that they've occupied territory but then since their words in the solvent and now this issue of the fence however what makes international law international is the fact that it's not just israel it's an international consensus on both of these issues whether it's all the states really all the states with the exception of israel and now just one the u.s. which doesn't make it right agreed that israel has occupied the golan heights and the same thing goes for the one thousand nine hundred sixty seven occupation of the west bank now the next move is there finitely that israel is most likely going to actually recommend the annexation of area c. which is a part of the west bank actually the majority of its where settlers are moving and living and where israelis are already applying its own national law in violation to h.l. there are other stakeholders that determine what the international law says and does

and that's the i.c.r.c. and other international mechanisms related to that including here the human rights councils and the treaty bodies who all unilaterally and this is public because you can check it on their side also declare both of these territories to be occupied. i think that for israel the main issue what i like is the settlers who tend to actually be very honest about that because they don't resort to international law argument they resort to the policy of the deeds israel was founded on the policy of the deeds and that's the argument that they always say that since israel was founded like this why can't it continue on acquiring the rest of the territories that way you know let me put this to you this issue about the west bank is this what you would anticipate that the west bank is next. but we know that president trump is going to put forward a peace plan and again i think it's important to remind the viewers that these territories israel has offered up for peace multiple times in the past fifty two

years have been multiple credible offers were israel along with the united states has said we will give this up in exchange for peace and the palestinians the other arab actors did not accept there's going to be another attempt to do that but i think it's important to know that time cannot stand still for ever an area cannot be frozen in limbo by a rejection by the aggressor side to make peace and i think it's quite clear that if the palestinians do not accept a generous offer again for the fifth time no other people seeking national self dependence independence has ever rejected an internationally backed offer of statehood within even part of their borders imagine of the kurds were offered a state and part of their borders they would for sure say yes the palestinians have said no over and over again i think one message to president trump or sending them is at some point you have to either say yes or you know no becomes some kind of acceptance of the status quo do you think grammy the president trump is actually

has done this in a tactical sense of he's looking ahead to the peace process to the so-called deal of the century that this is going to come into play there in some shape or form. i think president trump is looking short term and his election prospects coming up after he lost the house of representatives in the midterm election he's looking at is political donors he's looking at the eventual right is looking at child native son and the many people who give him the support from different groups in the united states different lobbies different supporters he's looking at the netanyahu election coming up he's looking at what his son in law a jerk questioner is telling him and jerk question it doesn't really know very much about this region has been a friend of netanyahu has since teenage days or something like that so he's looking at the forces and interests around him that are almost totally pro israeli and the right wing of the israelis are in this spectrum so i don't think we should do think that from has any kind of long term strategy in place what but what is that what

this is consistent with is a trump ian tendency to basically lay down the law not just for jerusalem and the golan and the west bank and israel and palestine but the basically laid down the law for the whole world now that there's the trump is saying he doesn't want germany to import gas from russia and if it does it's going to be sanctions he's sanctioning countries that do business with iran so this is the real bigger danger in this move it's not the narrow issue of just to go alon and they arbitrarily conflict it's the bigger issue that we have a kind of runaway train wreck in the united states white house that's essentially telling the world the u.s. is going to lay down the law for the entire world and if you don't go along with us we're going to sanction you we're going to do something terrible to you we're going to withdraw money and that's the that's the the real danger you know just bring it back to the peace process what's your sense that this proclamation if you like has done to the peace process where are we with this that so-called deal of the century

. i mean gerrard's plan and that deal is. in essence an israeli american the i haven't heard the palestinians parties or palestinian authority respond positively to any of these deals we haven't heard the arabs come forward countries and so on. you know towards those deals it's a no deal so for her i don't think it's going to go very far. rami says is right in the sense however that you know with might so they can push for some of some of these policies enough that we've been at for instance in israel is talking to two to the settlers and he's a settler leader himself obviously and they're talking with some of the palestinians in the west bank trying to actually find little deals there and so on

and so forth to us or to ascertain their secure their forces there but at the end of the day all this demonstrates to the extremists so the elements that are radicalizing themselves in the arab world that basically in the arab cruisin you know the arab psyche their leaders and all the others are not actually having the might and the capacity to stand up to israel and that fuels all that extremism and so i think that on the long term it's not actually leading to a just and sustainable solution including for the israelis. on that front just a sustainable solution and also a peaceful solution in response to this is you'll know syria has vowed to recover the area through all available means russia has warned the decree could drive a new wave of tensions in the middle east region turkey said it's impossible to accept the united states decree how is this good for peace in the region. well

first of all the syrian protests in syria and threats of violence should be taken with a grain of salt because syria has for the past fifty two years constantly been attacking israel iran the syria's real power and control has been trying to open up a northern thrown against israel for decades so it's not just syria all of a sudden is upset with israel the syrian threat has been there from the beginning israel is now better position to protect itself from the syrian threat and i think it's very good for peace because previously the view was if countries attack israel and gain some territory no one will ever force them to leave. because they don't care about international law it's very hard to pressure them we saw that syria and iran act of total disregard for international law if on the other hand they miscalculate and israel get gains an advantage israel will have to return it one so it seems attacking israel would be a no brainer strategy you win if you win and you don't lose if you lose this

creates a new formula if you will you actually will lose and that is going to discourage aggression that's going to show that aggression has a price if you lead you actually will lose this is good for peace rami khouri what do you say to that. this is the trump in netanyahu is i am just right wing view that they have a force they can use it they can dominate the region as they want they're going to plumb all their enemies or their foes into submission as they're trying to do with the palestinians but but it doesn't work it doesn't work and the best best example of this is the jewish people themselves who thousands of years later and system on having their state and achieved that the people don't go away when you treat them like animals they they resist they have to fight back and they keep working and any way they can the arabs have clearly put on the table a peace plan that once was says we will exist peacefully with israel with normal relations secure borders and all that so the the israelis and the arabs have an

opportunity to negotiate a comprehensive and just peace that's just to both sides the arabs are not going any situation where they're going to attack israel anybody who attacks israel with its nuclear weapons and american support is going to be nuts so nobody is going to attack israel this is very a traditional pro right wing zionist israeli propaganda and we're hearing it.